ND vs. Pitt

Sorry if you are getting tired of all the Notre Dame football-related posts. We are just very excited to be here this year!

We went to Trumpets Under the Dome for the first time this year. That is Fridays before the band steps off from the Dome for practice. I must say, it was way too crowded, as you can see. Plus it was just the trumpets. If it were Faltos Under the Dome, or Trombones Under the Dome, different story.

The weather was just barely holding for us.

 On to game day. Mmm, string cheese.

And ham sandwiches.

 

The happy tailgater. We don't normally do cake at 10 in the morning, but he lucked out as it was somebody's birthday!

Sean spent at least a half hour in the back of this van, drawing spaceships, cars, and interlocking NDs (see just to the right of the blue bungy) all over the 2x4s.
 

Then there was an underage drinking bust at a nearby tailgate, which prompted a quick exit from the van on Sean's part to see what was going on, as there were about 5 police golf carts very near us. We took advantage of the photo opportunity - as did one of the underage drinkers who was cited! We saw him smiling and standing with the police officers just a moment before we did the same thing.

We attempted to attend Concert on the Steps as well, but we got there too late so the kids couldn't see what was going on. Hence they did not care, and Sean resorted to beer can hockey in the grass. Luckily most bystanders were amused.

Last stop, march out. Again the kids did not care, so they climbed a tree while I went to watch. Interestingly they do not do a 10-minute inspection with the band at attention anymore. I guess they wanted to get rid of the dirty-mouthed hecklers trying to get the band members to smile/laugh while at attention.

 

 Teresa did join me by the band after spending a few minutes in the tree. No, her eyes are not crossed like that all the time, she is just a goofball!

Again, no shortage of personality in our family.

Go Irish!

Little T

Teresa is not afraid to show her emotions. Here she is unhappy about waiting in line (behind only one person, mind you) to buy tickets to the Wake Forest football game. The natural way to express that is to writhe around on the floor. On the plus side, she is probably picking up things that will challenge and boost her immunity....?

She has her happy moments too, which is so nice!

She LOVES the playground. Lately it's been cold and/or rainy, but if it's nice we try to go. We are fortunate to have lots of playgrounds within a pretty short distance of our house. It's great!

Halloween

I really did not get any good pictures of the children in their costumes this year! Well here goes...


Sean's idea for this year was to be a mailbox. We found a picture in a Family Fun magazine and it was pretty easy to replicate. Just as we finished the project, the mailman stopped by to drop off a package, so we took advantage of the photo op.

Teresa unfortunately is too young to have given me a good idea for a costume to make, and I just couldn't think of anything really original, so she happily settled for a bumblebee costume from the thrift store. Here she is with the other story time kids at the ND bookstore.

 

The South Bend police garage had a trick or treating event one evening, so we went to that.  Sean was very excited to see all the police cars, and inside they even had a couple of police horses! Teresa really liked them. She is an animal lover.

Halloween night was pretty chilly, so we walked around for about an hour then Sean lost his energy and we headed home. He got a pretty good stash, and traded some candy in to the Switch Witch. He has been saving up for the biggest LEGO set yet, the space shuttle. It is labeled for ages 14 and up, so I'm hoping he doesn't get completely frustrated with it. It's coming today, so we'll be busy with LEGOs this weekend!

ND vs. BYU

Pumpkin patch and fall sunset

I took the kids to a local pumpkin patch - they had lots of fun.


Running through the corn maze.

 

This giant pumpkin was lots of fun to look out through.

A beautiful fall sky. Holy cow I was freezing though. I always have a hard time adjusting to the change of the seasons and I am usually underdressed through October until I realize, finally, by November, that I have been shivering for a month and that I need to put my heavy coat and hat on!

Ignore the traffic and the power lines - isn't that a gorgeous sky?

I was having trouble getting a good shot of the sky without all the power lines and street lights also in the picture. Sean said, "Here Mom, give me the camera.  I'll try to get a picture of the sunset." This is what I got. :)

So I took the camera back and got this one. What a change in color in just a few minutes!

Check out my organizational skills!

Never mind the fact that they are totally in the way of the stairway and hallway, and the first person to walk by is bound to trip over them. :)

tv

Sean has really been interested in outer space lately. Here we are watching The Cat in the Hat (on PBS) which he found hilarious. He watched pretty much the whole show with that expression on his face.

Thomas the Tank Engine was not as engaging. I don't think Grandpa H. made it past the opening credits.

Storytime?

Apparently Sean got ahold of the camera again.

The budding photographer

Sean likes to borrow our camera and take his own pictures. I always cringe and imagine the camera falling to the ground and smashing into a million pieces, but so far we have been lucky. I'm thinking he might get his own for Christmas, if I can find one that's not too babyish (i.e., Fisher Price has ones that are 1.3 MP - not good enough!) and not too expensive (regular shock-proof cameras are $150+).

Anyway, I love when he or his feet are in the shots.

 

And, by the way, GO IRISH! BEAT CARDINAL!!!

Edo

Edo (pronounced Ee-dough) is Teresa's favorite giraffe. Here they are having a snack and drink together.